europe newbys

First- Congratulations on deciding to go to Europe! Now for reality- No- you can't 'see it all' in 30ish days And while $8000 might seem like a good start on a budget- I'd try to stretch this a bit if you can- airfare will eat up alot of it and the more you move about (even just using public transit for day trips) the more you spend. BUT- you can see alot and do alot! Picking one, two or even three 'hubs' or bases is an excellent idea. Renting short stay apartments in those bases is also a great idea (and a money saver). London, Paris and other locations make good bases- IF they have what you are interested in. Share a few more details with us and we might can help you narrow things down, make good suggesstions, etc. So- A few ideas of what to share with us--- What are your interests? (Art- particular artisits, periods, etc. , History- particluar time periods, Architechture, nature, cultural experiences, music, etc.) Are there family ties you want to explore? When do you hope to travel? Do you want all/mostly big cities- or do you want to include some more rural areas? The more you share the better we can be at helping.
I'd also suggest you get Rick's Europe Through the Back Door and maybe some other general travel books. And you should try to watch some of Rick's (and other) shows.

Agree with Toni. I also think that it's better to rent a flat in London and Paris than to shuffle out to the suburbs - which are not always nice places. (If you want to spend some time in a small town that's another matter, and not a bad idea. I'm just responding to your question about Paris and London.) By the way, Rick's book "Europe Through the Back Door," is a GREAT source of information and ideas. It's written for first-timers.

Step one for you is to buy Rick Steves Through The Back Door. Step two is to read the first part (not the part about the Back Doors) right away, before doing anything else. Then, you can start planning where you might want to go and how you might want to see it. Yes, for Paris and London, it's much better to stay in the cities; places outside are either too far or not so safe, and if they are safe and convenient, they are not cheap. Furthermore, while both cities have nice suburbs, too, you aren't spending all that time and money going to Europe to see a suburb; you want to see Paris and London. You'll still be using mass transit in these cities, as they're big and attractions are spread out through their centers (i.e, no hotel is within walking distance of everything you want to see). You cannot "see it all" even in a lifetime, but definitely not in 30 days. You will need to be selec-tive. Start by plotting out where you will spend each night, remembering that the day you depart the US and the day you depart Europe do not count as sightseeing days, and that your first arrival day is often a jet-lagged haze. Also remember that when you change cities, you have to allow a half-day to a full day for this (getting out of first hotel, getting to train station, taking train, getting to second hotel, checking in...). So you see how your 30 days becomes 28 days (flight) becomes even less actual time on the ground when you factor in changing locations. So, start by figuring out what your "must sees" are, and how to connect them (train, bus, flight, rental car, or some combination). Then, you can see how many days you actually get at each place. Not enough days? This is common for all of us during planning, and means you have to cut back the number of destinations. continued.. EDIT: I see Frank and I were cross posting <g>

First off, $8000 is not a workable budget for 30+ days. Airfaire will eat up the first $3000 with$5000 left over for 30 days or about $166/day. The days of Europe on $5/day, $50/day, $100 are long gone especially if you are trying to see it all. Unless you are willing to really cut corners - hostels, picnic lunches, etc., you need to budget closer to $200/300/day. Remember London is one of the most expensive cities in the world and Paris is not far behind. A budget closer to $10,000 to $12,000 would be more realistic.

continued.. For your budget: I'm not sure where Mountain Home is (flights from the East Coast naturally cost less than from the West Coast, and flights from small towns can cost more than flights from hubs like New York or Los Angeles). Depending on when and where you want to go, you have to allot 800 to 1600 per ticket per person to fly round trip to Europe. Then, you have to pay for transit within Europe (these days, usually much cheaper when booked in advance, as non-refundable and non-changeable trains or planes). Next, you have to have someplace to stay. This is one of the most flexible parts of a budget; you can stay cheap in hostels, or stay expensive in fancy hotels, or anything in between. You have to eat, but this is the part of my trip budget I worry about the least, since I have to eat whether I travel or not. Again, there are ways to economize, like getting apartments with kitchens, so you can buy at supermarkets instead of eating at restaurants. Next, you have to pay admissions to museums, attractions, etc. As Rick says, don't skimp here, because this is the reason you're taking the trip in the first place. However, there can be ways to save here as well, like museum passes or city cards (e.g. I spent $50 for a 3 day Oslo Card, but between transit and admissions, I used $75 worth of value). I hope this gets you started in a good direction. Again, start by reading ETBD, and then you can post more specific questions.

sandra, I definitely agree with a previous comment that your first step should be to read Europe Through The Back Door. That provides a lot of good information on "how" to travel in Europe. Use the country-specific Guidebooks to fine-tune sightseeing, hotels, transportation, etc. It would help to have a bit more information on which countries or cities you want to see. Using a "hub" to visit nearby locations works to a point, but only if the locations are relatively close. While you can often save money by staying outside the city centres, that has to be balanced against the time and cost of travelling back and forth each day. That's not a method I'd use, as the cities are vibrant and lively in the evenings and it's nice to experience that. As someone else mentioned, your air fares will probably take about $1500 off the top. Two people travelling for $5K for 30 days might be a bit of a challenge. US$5K is only about €4K, so exchange rates will be a factor. Exchange rates will be worse in the U.K. Is there any possibility you could increase your budget slightly? Using open-jaw flights would absolutely be the most efficient travel method. If you could add a few more details, it would be easier to offer more specific suggestions. Good luck with your planning!

To add my voice to the others: You will need to make choices about where to go, because you will not be able to "do it all", and your budget is a little too low for 30 days. Think of your trip in "modules" and pick a hub for that module. The longer you stay in one spot, the more cost-effective it becomes. Say you split your trip into 2-4 modules - that would be doable. Then start your planning for each 7-10 days"module". For example, if one module has Prague-Vienna-Budapest, or Vienna-Salzburg-Prague, there are plenty of threads that discuss this particular itinerary in detail, as well as the time that you should spend in each. Others can be: Paris-Normandy or Paris-Provence, Amsterdam-Brussels, Barcelona-Madrid, Lisbon-Porto, etc..
A classic is Rome-Florence-Venice. Paris and London - on their own - can easily fill a week. Finally, whatever you do, DON'T plan a "if this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium" kind of trip: that would be exhausting, financially taxing and ultimately stressful (as there would be no room to breathe or to account for snafus and delays). And, you will end up experiencing not much more than transportation options... This is why first reading Rick's "Backdoor" book is so crucial. Start thinking hard about this and post a first-kick-at-the-can draft itinerary when you have one. You will find that people here respond with good info, once we get to sink our teeth into serious planning - we just can't resist ;-)

Sandra, We did our "lifetime" trip a couple of years ago and tried the see it all approach as well. In 28 days, we visited Glasgow, toured the highlands, Loch Ness, London, Bath, Stonehenge, Windsor, the big London Museums and churches, Amsterdam and their museums (and my favourite Heineken brewery tour), Paris and all the sights, including the Louvre, up the Eiffel tower, Rodin museum and the other biggies, including a bike tour. From there it was Fuessen and the castles, then Venice, Florence (and David), Tuscanny valley, Rome and most of the big sites . . some twice, the Vatican and then Athens and Hydra. In no time did we feel rushed or we didn't have enough time. In fact, the last days of London, Paris and Rome, we were looking for stuff to do. Although we did not skimp on doing things, we did not spend much time in restaurants, preferring to grab food on the go (chocolate, Grand Marnier crepe in front of the Eiffel tower, the best Panini walking the streets of Paris), and the total cost of the trip was $11500. One day I remember was tiring, the others were casual. So if you want to "see it all" plan and just go for it.

Sandra, my partner and I are both over 60. We always rent a place to stay, for a couple of reasons; it's more comfortable; and it cuts costs a lot. Most places have a washer/dryer. Eating out is a big expense and if you don't mind doing some self-catering, you can really stretch a budget. And a side benefit is, I think you get more of a 'feel' for a place as you shop for food. What we usually do is eat breakfast and our evening meal in the apartment and then go out for a walk and sit in a cafe for a drink. Lunch is usually something simple, like a sandwich, that we can eat in a park. But given that you want to move around a bit, I'd suggest choose one place in, say, London, for a week maybe- and then move to a different major city; Somewhere like Barcelona or Rome maybe. Don't underestimate travel time. You can certainly reach Paris from London easily enough, but to go there and back in a day is pushing it, I think. VRBO, and Booking.com are both good places to find apartments. (Booking.com is mostly hotels but if you look at the left hand side of the home page, you'll find a box marked 'apartments').

Great advice so far. Keep coming back to this site and you'll get more. It's very helpful and the people here can talk you through all kinds of things. In addition to reading the answers to your own questions, go back in the posts and read whatever interests you. One thing that I do, is when I see something of interest, I pop the link into a Word document for later reference. For example, I had one section for Paris hotels. When a hotel was mentioned here, I'd look it up, and if I liked it, I'd put it in the document. Later when it was time to book, I could sort through them easily. Europe is big. Remember that you could not see everything in the US in 30 days.

Hi, Sandra! I think you can do & see a lot in a 30 day trip within your budget with solid planning. Your idea of using hubs and renting a place are critical (IMO) to meeting your budget and you will also need to eat lighter meals and/or not eat out too often as another poster suggested. Large cities, like London & Paris, are more expensive than smaller ones, but make for better hubs. I also like to use Munich, Vienna or Florence as a base. You should pick several hubs to investigate or just start with the 2 you mentioned and look into lo season prices. I use VRBO to find rentals, but have also had success with suggestions from this website and tripadvisor. If you plan your itinerary in advance, you can often save money by advance purchasing train tickets. All of this requires a fair amount of research, but it can be done and it will save you money. If I use airline miles for plane tickets, I start planning a year in advance. Everything else, I start about 6 months out (can't book some apartments any earlier). This March, I found out that my daughter had an opportunity to go to Budapest in May. Two months to plan was a bit challenging for me, but it happened. We were only gone for 21 days, but our trip would have met your daily average after deducting airfares ($1000 ea for us). Several factors played into this including May timing and good exchange rates.

Paris apartment for a week: $99 and up per night from Vacation in Paris. (Yes dollars not euros). Like this one, $805 for the week. http://www.vacationinparis.com/apts/id_02.htm London is more expensive so you might want to spend less time there and go somplace else in the UK. the same company has a studio apartment in Chelsea for $200 a night for comparison. Absolutely stay IN the city. Transport back and forth to what you wqant to see will eat up your budget fas. Then you cuold choose a third base to spend a week. Italy? Or Germany? $2500 sounds about righ tfor airfare if you go high season, flying from Seattle. But maybe it is cheaper if you head to Salt Lake or more east to fly. And if you go in October or later, everything will be cheaper.

Sandra... you will get lots of advice from people with different 'travel styles' here... but if it were my first trip and I wanted to 'see it all' I would do exactly that, and I have. I would not give up my first trip and the variety of countries I visited (all doing the highlights). It was magic to move from one culture to another in a matter of hours. I have been fortunate enough to return many times (always on a tight budget), but if I had not had the overview of all those locations I am not so sure I would have been as motivated to return. I just had to get back to see what I had missed. I could definitely do the trip on your budget. Instead of incresing the money, I would decrease the extravagant things that cost more and save the rest of the money for another trip. There are so many ways to travel cheaper and not feel cheated. Just plan as many fixed costs as you can ahead of time. I always plan my trip as though I will not be able to return, so I want to travel with 'no regrets.'

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I respectfully disagree with those that say your budget is too low. I am doing 30 days and spending about $4000, maybe $4500, so I think you can definitely do it. You just have to be smart and do your research. My recommendation is airbnb.com for cheap lodging. I've got 3 nights in London, Paris, and Copenhagen for an average of $120 for a double. (And that's in the city proper, within walking distance of at least some sights) Of course, when I split from my travel partners I usually go for cheap hostels, but there's no reason you can't find a decent, reasonably priced places to stay wherever you go. I got a proper hotel (Air conditioning! Bathrooms in the room!!) in both Veinna and Berlin for about $60, and that's just by myself with no one splitting, I splurged. If you're not a "foodie" you can for sure save by going grocery shopping (which is also a fun foreign experience!). And yes, a "hub" is a good idea- only I would use it a bit backwards of what you are doing. I would stay near the city center, and spend a day or two on day trips outside of the city. For example, stonehenge from London or Versailles from Paris. Good luck!

I think a big factor in cost will be the time of the year you plan to travel. To cut costs consider traveling in the off season. Weather might be a problem but who can really predict. I've done Ireland, Italy and London in Fall and Winter months over the years and enjoyed sunshine, rain, even a little snow. Never a problem as far as seeing the sights though. Stayed in B & B's. In Ireland I did rent a car but knew I would be doing that so the cost ( the car, the insurance and gas) was factored into my budget. Train travel in Europe is a great. Can be expensive (i.e. the Eurostar from London to Paris ) but with careful planning you can buy cheaper tickets in advance. Think of it, in a matter of 2 hours you can leave Rome and be in Florence. Or, 4 hours between Vienna and Prague. As many others have noted, get the RS Europe Through the Back door guide. Once you've both read it, sit down and decide where to start and where to end. The open jaw ticket is the best option for a trip like this as you'll not wish to double back. I'm your age and have never been a fan of Hostels. On my most recent trip abroad I discovered and used airbnb.com. Am now a big fan and wholeheartedly suggest using the website to secure places to stay. Either do some self catering or if you stay at B & B's make sure they provide breakfast. Picnic a lot or at least buy sandwiches, fruits, etc to take with you during the day. Investigate 2 for 1 vouchers from the National Rail in London to save on admission costs in one of the pricier cities in Europe. Once you've started to develop an itinerary and decided when you are going to travel. Re post. Suggestions and insight from this forum will be plentiful as you can see already.

wowi am "newby sandra". Thank each & every one of you!!! i will ask you many more questions as i plan my trip. i was amazed at the great, prompt & informative "Europe info" you all gave me. I have plenty of time to learn from you. Money: not our mainBUT A BIGconcern is keeping the money low. timing: We plan to travel late May 2013. Would this be the cheaper time to tour Europe? Our point of USA origin: our home is near Boise, Idaho. Getting there: It would seem a large chuck of our budget would be "eaten up" with airfare. I will explore this. it looks like i have a lot to explore + plenty of time. thank all of you.
New In the West, Sandra

When we got back from our recent Italy trip (9 nights) I calculated exactly how much we spent. It included EVERYTHING- airfare, lodging, meals, admissions, souvenirs, every gelato. I included the cash we got out of ATMs, every charge to my credit card, everything we paid for in advance, even the non-cotton socks we bought my husband in Alpe di Siusi because it was raining. We are frugal, but we did stay in real hotels for the most part. Lodging in Rome & Venice was a bit expensive, but only 80€/nt in Florence, and 75€/nt in Cinque Terre. We never paid more that $45 for dinner- usually less. We ate a lot of picnics and sharing one pizza in a restaurant. We're vegetarian, so we had pasta in restaurants, way cheaper than meat courses. We had airfare out of Montreal for $930 each, open jaw Venice and Rome. My total even included airport parking. We did 1 paid day tour through Tuscany for just over $100 each, but other than that, no large admission fees (largest was probably gondola in alpe di siusi, and Colosseum tickets). Our total for 9 nights, (plus 1 night on the plane) in Italy was $4400 for 2 people. Remember this includes everything, every 50 cents for a pay toilet, etc. (continuted in next post).

(continuted from previous post) Not incl. airfare and airport parking, it was $2450, or $272/night for 2 people. Subtracting out major train travel (we didn't spend long in 1 place - Venice to Castelrotto to Florence to Cinque Terre to Rome), that comes down to $240/nt. Lodging averaged $125/nt. So how did we spend $115/day? The day tour of $220 for 2 made a dent. Plus food, public transportation, admission. It all adds up. So, not incl. air and train travel, we spent $240/nt. x30 =$7200. Don't see how you can do it without staying in youth hostels. You can get lodging for <$125/nt (we didn't want to share a bathroom) but not WAY less & if you want to see a lot, you'll have lots of train costs. And airfare might be more than ours (if you live near Canada check Airtransat airline

timing: We plan to travel late May 2013. Would this be the cheaper time to tour Europe? Sandra, I usually travel in April/May timeframe. I have often found that airfares increase in mid to late May and then go up again in early June.

We went in early June, and it did seem like the airfare was cheaper than late June, or July. If you're willing to travel far from home to get to a cheaper airport, do consider convenience. $50 more per person might be worth it if it cuts your flight from 3 legs to 2, and/or cuts many hours off the travel time. We were thrilled to find direct flights from Montreal because it eliminated the chance of missing a connection, and reduced the chance of lost luggage.

Once you have some possible destinations in mind, start looking at airfares now, on http://www.kayak.com/. If you put in May 2013 dates, you will see "maximum" airfares for your routes. That's because the only people booking now for then are people who have to - those attending conventions, going to weddings, etc. Closer to the travel date, there should be some reductions. When these reductions will appear, and how much they will be, is not predictable (despite claims you will read here and elsewhere of "formulas," like "always book 6 weeks before your trip for best prices"). Once you know what the high airfare is, you will be able to spot a reduction - and pounce on it. If you wait (say, to consult your husband), the fare might be gone. You can also sign up on Kayak for fare alerts, and can sign up for these from airlines as well. I just took advantage of an Air Berlin 3 day sale that arrived in my e-mail - from having flown Air Berlin in 2005! You should check prices as round trips to start with, but for your actual flights, you almost certainly want to do open jaw (called "multi city" on booking sites like Kayak) - into one city and out from another. This saves time and money backtracking. A quirk: it can be less money to do this in one direction vs. the other. So, for example, it may cost much less to start in Stockholm and end in Rome than to start in Rome and end in Stockholm. Before finalizing, check. Continued..

continued.. You can also see if, among all your possible destinations, there are any that are cheaper or more expensive. You shouldn't go to a place just because of low airfare, but it can be a tie-breaker. For September 2011, I found that going from New York, it was inexplicably much cheaper to go to Poland or Istanbul than almost anywhere else in Europe. And while Krakow cost only a few dollars more than Warsaw, Gdansk was $200 more. Lately, I've seen Brussels be much cheaper than either Paris or Amsterdam (which both used to have reliably good prices from New York, due to competition). Why these idiosyncrasies? Who knows. If you live near Boise, you're probably locked into flying out of Boise. The time and expense to get to a "cheaper" departure airport will probably not be worth any "savings" - unless you combine it with something else. So, for instance, if you have friends in Chicago or New York you want to visit, you could use one of these cities to leave for Europe. Otherwise, you're quite far from cities with nonstop international service, so you'll have to make a change in the US, and possibly a change again in Europe. This is why you will be tired on your first day in Europe, in addition to the time difference.

Hi Sandra, For flights you might consider Boise to Seattle to catch the SEA to Amsterdam or Paris flight. (Although if making a connection, I highly recommending going through AMS, not CDG!) Those flights are so much nicer than flying across the US. I use itasoftware.com to figure out which flights I really want.
For some reason the Boise to Lewiston to Seattle flight is twice as expensive as the nonstop. Enjoy your planning!

Cathy gave you a very good idea of a realistic budget for 30 days. We are frugal travelers and our spending tends to be in line with hers. We nate B&Bs, small hotels and pensions, with apartment stays and the occasional hostel. We "cluster"/hub our destinations, and always look at open-jaw our flights or maximize free stop-overs on our flights. Here are some "rules" that we follow when planning, resulting in saving both our money and our precious travel time: - When we mix cheaper cities with more expensive ones, we allocate more nights to the cheaper ones. - We try to stay a minimum of 3 nights in one spot. We always check to see if a multiple-night discount is offered. - We NEVER count a travel day as a scheduled sightseeing day. We also assume that a scheduled sightseeing day rarely goes as planned and we keep extra time in reserve... that way, we rarely have to move on having missed a "must-do" on our list. - In cities, we only use our feet or public transportation. We resort to taxis sparingly. If a multi-day bus pass is available, we buy it. - Sometimes, renting a car for some of the trip makes absolute economic sense: it makes smaller or odd routes much easier to do and enables us to widen our lodging options to cheaper B&Bs or small inns outside of town centers. We love exploring rural areas, as well as cities -- so, Paris = no car, Normandy = car... simple. - When we rent a car in Europe, we ALWAYS make sure that our insurance coverage is either no deductible or very low deductible (esp. in southern Europe). We also factor in the high cost of parking in many places and highway tolls. We're very careful in avoiding fines (i.e. ZTLs in Italy).

cont'd: - We always seek out lodging that offers very good price/quality, not necessarily the cheapest. Criteria usually involves a decent breakfast included in the price (except for apts), ease for getting to/from what we want to do. We will occasionally accept a shared bath, if the place & price are right. - Cutting down on food expenses is a big one: access to a kitchen is essential for the majority of our lodging options. Many B&Bs offer shared kitchen privileges. This becomes another important criteria when choosing lodging. - We pre-buy or reserve as many tickets/transfers/admittances as possible, especially if there are web and/or advance booking discounts available. These also save us precious time. - We carefully weigh the pros and cons of buying multi-days sightseeing passes. The economy can be great or marginal, but becomes a no-brainer if it also cuts on queuing time... Finally, with practice, we've become quite aware of the hidden "extras" which creep into our expenses... who can resist a gelato near Trevi Fountain? or an expensive coffee sitting outside in Paris? or paying a bit more for a faster train; or paying the entrance fees to visit sites or occasionally investing in a guided tour or in a hop-on-hop-off bus...

So, Sandra, Pick the top 3 or 4 places/regions that you really, really would like to include the most. Tentatively plan out a week-or-so itinerary around each. Work out what a tentative budget for each would need to be, factoring in the various elements. See the best way these can be linked. Also consider leaving earlier and working the hubs south to north. Late April/early May is when we usually go, returning late May or early June. There is a not-insignificant cost savings involved. Good luck and have fun making your dream come true.

There are two "big rocks" in trying to minimize trip costs - airfare and lodging. Knock those down by two-thirds and any trip is manageable. Two ways we have done this are to play the frequent flyer game and to use home exchange. Frequent flyer plans today rely much less on actually flying and more on credit card and program partner spending. Assuming you have decent credit and can manage your spending, you could each earn a reduced fare in plenty of time by applying for a few new credit cards with reward bonuses each. The best resource for information on this is www.flyertalk.com. I say reduced fare because you will pay about a third of the ticket cost in cash (taxes and fees). But a two-thirds reduction is a big savings. We got four $1800 tickets for $600 each two years ago, and will do it again this summer for a 2013 trip. It takes time and planning but that's half the fun. For lodging, I arranged four back to back home exchanges for a seven-week trip. No cash is exchanged, you just have to find someone who wants to visit the U.S. and stay in your house while you stay in theirs. We paid cash for four nights' lodging the whole trip, just when in transition between locations. A good resource for more information is www.homeexchange.com. Even if you did only one exchange for two weeks in the place you want to stay the longest, you've cut your costs in half. And we found it much more fun staying in a house than a hotel. So if you really want to manage your costs so you can have the trip of your dreams, just look for ways to cut the big costs. Food, ground transportation and sightseeing will then fit easily within your budget.

I have a question about plane miles rewards cards. I have a Capital One cash rewards card, and I simply get 1.5% cash back on all my purchases. Sure, I could get an airline rewards card, and get airline miles - INSTEAD of my cash back rewards. But would it really be better than 1.5% cash back on all purchases? I feel like it is just better for me to take my 1.5% and save my money and buy my plane ticket normally. But then I wonder... am I missing out on something? BTW, I use my credit card a lot, but always pay off the full balance each month.

I think that for day to day rewards, cash back cards are at least as rewarding as points cards. What you're missing out on are the often generous sign-up bonuses - sometimes 50,000 or so airline points for getting a new card. This is enough for two domestic tickets, or most of an international ticket. Some people use a strategy called "card churning" to apply for new cards every six months or so to maximize the new card bonuses. This obviously is a bad idea for anyone who is credit-challenged. It can be a hassle to get rewards flights you want but if you start early, say eleven months ahead of your trip, you can usually get flights. Getting the best rewards and aggressively building points balances is a hobby like trip planning is here, and requires time and attention. The Flyertalk site listed above is the biggest online home for those hobbyists. I'm just a dabbler but I do enough to make it work for me. (It's not as productive a game in Canada, there are far fewer card options with less generous sign-up bonuses.)

A different tip: Sandra, once you get your itinerary squared away you will want to start thinking about what to pack. I was given a great tip 30 years ago on my first trip over. Take your old under garments that are near the end of their life, wear them and pitch them. Most recently, we were advised to take our old clothes, wear them and donate them when we are done. Both tips lighten the load and the second helps someone else. I understand that you will be traveling many more days than I ever have at one time so perhaps you can modify this to fit your needs. I am glad for you that you are going over. Keep an open mind, realize that things are done differently in most places, and people are the same no matter where you go. If you do not know a second language (I don't) try to learn a few words to help you get by. Paris is beautiful and you could spend a week there. We prefer Bavaria and its charm. Italy was great although I found this to be the place where English was understood/spoken the least. Expect to forget something at home and understand that what ever it is, you can find it wherever you go.
Relax, visit, enjoy!